BLM protesters cleared over toppling of Edward Colston statue

It’s a disgrace I hope a petition is out there, I will sign it, it is free license to vandalise and undermines the police. Shame in them. They should pay all costs.

Allsorts

It’s a disgrace I hope a petition is out there, I will sign it, it is free license to vandalise and undermines the police. Shame in them. They should pay all costs.

Hanging would have been too good for them, wouldn't it Allsorts?

VioletSky

Margeret Thatcher should have got a statue as first woman Prime Minister but unfortunately her performance only deserves her Spitting Image likeness

There is a statue of Margaret Thatcher.

Silly comment MaizieD

lemongrove

Silly comment MaizieD

Equally silly comment from you, lemon.

Not allowed to take the mick any more, are we?

What a sad world you would have us live in.

Coastpath

I was born and raised in Bristol and lived there for over 50 years. The statue was a stain on the city and many thousands of people had tried to have it removed through peaceful, constructive channels.

"Colston was “chief executive officer” of a company that branded children as young as nine, and which was eventually responsible for enslaving more Africans than any other in British history"

When I heard it was pulled down I stood up from my gardening and punched the air. I've never done that before and don't expect I'll do it again in a hurry! Good on those kids with the conviction and fire in their belly to do what decent people should have done decades earlier.

??????

I agree. I was at uni in Bristol and we had to do a lot of research about this in our induction week. I'm stunned it was still there at all to be honest.

MaizieD

lemongrove

Silly comment MaizieD

Equally silly comment from you, lemon.

Not allowed to take the mick any more, are we?

What a sad world you would have us live in.

It was just needless sarcasm to Allsorts certainly not humour.

lemongrove thought that hadn't gone up yet?

Apparently there is one that isn't open to the public

The Colston exhibition at the MShed has just finished.

It was brilliantly designed. The statue which had been fished out of the harbour was presented reclining behind a perspex screen and the information on the surrounding walls explained the history of slavery and its connexion to Bristol, the part played by Colston and the background to the toppling of the statue.

Visitors were invited to submit their views as to what should happen to the statue online and it will be very interesting to see the concensus.

Calistemon

Iam64

Those who say a guilty verdict could have been followed by a nominal fine or other sentence seem to be forgetting, the jury doesn’t sentence. The jury reaches guilty or not guilty based on the evidence it hears, the Judge sentences. This jury decided not guilty was the way to go.

I know that.

Don't treat other posters as if they are stupid because they put an alternative viewpoint.
And there is no need to shout.

It is good that the statue has gone but the campaign to get rid of it cannot have been very strong as even Marvin didn't act.

Apologies if this comment was seen as treating others as stupid - no intention there at all. I was confused about why posters felt a guilty verdict could dictate the sentence.
And I wasn’t shouting.

Honest guv

Oops, I didn't mean to quote your post, Iam64

It was another poster who was typing in capitals.

I apologise
How very STUPID of me ?

I did wonder how you knew she was shouting

lemongrove

VioletSky

Margeret Thatcher should have got a statue as first woman Prime Minister but unfortunately her performance only deserves her Spitting Image likeness

There is a statue of Margaret Thatcher.

It's regularly defaced.

Maybe the statue that I've seen being defaced has been removed from public view.

Calistemon - no never stupid.
I almost let it go, been out today, late catching up and thought phew, sorry if I was patronising, I didn’t mean to and I wasn’t shouting in caps or anything.
Relieved that’s sorted out. Back to positions folks ??

Calistemon

^Given the housing situation for young people I imagine that there wasn't much choice^

Rubbish. In a large city (where my DD lived and a lot of our family lives) it is ironic that one of the four lives in Colston Road!

It has not gone unnoticed, either, that the middle class four were cleared of criminal damage but the not-so-middleclass Roberts got 14 years.

His address might be ironic and amusing to some, but lack of housing for the young in Bristol is a well documented problem. Those on low incomes/temporary work/zero hours contracts find it near impossible to find accommodation. This is evidenced by the rising numbers of street homeless and the large number of people living in vans around the city. Catriona Davies' book Homesick describes the Bristol housing situation for young people upsettingly well.

been out today

Me too, in Bristol, but restrained myself from bringing the statue of Cary Grant home to put in my garden.

Coastpath I've heard that there are lots of foreign investors buying up property in Bristol, some of it for housing for their children who are students there. Is that the case or have I misunderstood?

The Blairs did that, Dinahmo.

Meanwhile there are hundred, no thousands, of rental properties available.

Rightmove is currently showing approx 1,400 properties available to rent in Bristol. Of these, only 234 have a rent of £1,000 or less a month. This in a city with a population of just shy of half a million people. It is difficult.

Affordable housing is the problem and I believe it's caused by all the problems found in other cities Dinahmo - short supply for many reasons. There are 12,000 families waiting for homes and 1,000 children in temporary accommodation.

On a lighter note, I'm glad you left Cary to enjoy his walk Calistemon. My dog was tempted to topple a statue in Bristol but found herself outnumbered and was concerned about the fall out on Gransnet

Not falling out, Coastpath, just different opinions.

The offending statue has gone now and I'm surprised Marvin hadn't listened and had it removed before then.

Maisie, I believe in law and order, not mob rule therefore I must want to hang everyone because I don’t think as you do. !!! So much for democracy. No I want them to pay for what they did, to set an example, you don’t go round baying like wolves and deciding what stays and what goes, causing criminal damage. I do not think like you.
No one thinks slavery was right, it’s horrific, it was a different time, like sending children up chimneys, working in mills at 6.That was slavery too.
How far back do you wish to go and seek revenge.?
We might have to look at who goes on jury’s in future, as it wasn’t justice.

Hmmm! Jury tampering? That's not how democracies work.

How much do you think a lump of bronze is worth?

It has to be very clean to get the best price.